This is an era of specialists, each of whom sees his own problem and is unaware of or intolerant of the larger frame into which it fits. Rachel Carson More Quotes by Rachel Carson More Quotes From Rachel Carson If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry. Rachel Carson sea writing book Only within the 20th Century has biological thought been focused on ecology, or the relation of the living creature to its environment. Awareness of ecological relationships is - or should be - the basis of modern conservation programs, for it is useless to attempt to preserve a living species unless the kind of land or water it requires is also preserved. So delicately interwoven are the relationships that when we disturb one thread of the community fabric we alter it all - perhaps almost imperceptibly, perhaps so drastically that destruction follows. Rachel Carson community land water Those who love and free nature are never alone. Rachel Carson environmental environment nature The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. Rachel Carson air rivers men Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal? Rachel Carson circles home insanity By suggestion and example, I believe children can be helped to hear the many voices about them. Take Time to listen and talk about the voices of the earth and what they mean-the majestic voice of thunder, the winds, the sound of surf or flowing streams. Rachel Carson mean believe children It is not half so important to know as to feel. Rachel Carson silent-spring important half Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good? Rachel Carson demand vision accepting Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction. Rachel Carson humility lust sides A Who's Who of pesticides is therefore of concern to us all. If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones - we had better know something about their nature and their power. Rachel Carson pesticides bones drinking In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth. Rachel Carson ocean nature beach Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking always to become more effective. Rachel Carson wildlife conservation resources Then the song of a whitethroat, pure and ethereal, with the dreamy quality of remembered joy. Rachel Carson quality joy song If having endured much, we at last asserted our 'right to know' and if, knowing, we have concluded that we are being asked to take senseless and frightening risks, then we should no longer accept the counsel of those who tell us that we must fill our world with poisonous chemicals, we should look around and see what other course is open to us. Rachel Carson our-world nature knowing Beginnings are apt to be shadowy. Rachel Carson The 'control of nature' is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man. Rachel Carson nature men philosophy Nowhere on the shore is the relation of a creature to its surroundings a matter of a single cause and effect; each living thing is bound to its world by many threads, weaving the intricate design of the fabric of life. Rachel Carson fabric-of-life design ocean Until we have courage to recognize cruelty for what it is - whether its victim is human or animal - we cannot expect things to be much better in the world. There can be no double standard. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity. Rachel Carson heart war peace Only as a child's awareness and reverence for the wholeness of life are developed can his humanity to his own kind reach its full development. Rachel Carson nature humanity children For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death. Rachel Carson environmental historical history
